Venetian blind



Feb. 23, 1937. v mc s 2,071,791

VENETIAN BLIND Filed Dec. 16, 1955 \3 t y r Ylhmlumnm i dl/ZEWW 1 11 if 12 24 J6 Patented Feb. 23, 1937 VENETIAN BLIND Ralph T. Hendricks, Indianapolis, Ind., assignor to Patterson Shade (30., Indianapolis, Ind., acorporation of Indiana Application December 16, 1935, Serial No. 54,604

8 Claims.

My invention relates to Venetian blinds, and

more particularly to releasable fastenings for the v tapes and lifting cords thereof.

It is the fundamental object of my invention 5 to provide a simple, inexpensive, and reliable releasable fastening for the tapes and lifting cords of Venetian blinds, so that by releasing them the slats may readily be removed and replaced, as in cleaning and assembling and repairing breakages without the necessity of dismounting the blind either wholly or partly.

With this fundamental object-in View, it is more specifically the object of my invention toprovide a simple and inexpensive releasable fasl tening means for the ends of the tape-ladders of such blinds, to permit them to be readily detached when desired while preventing the tapes from coming loose accidentally; and also to pr0- vide a simple fastening means for the lower ends of the, lifting cords, so that such cord-ends may 'also be released at will but are otherwise firmly held in place; and to'arrange said cord-fastening means both so that it is concealed and protected by the aforesaid tape-fastening means and so that no hole is necessary in the under face of the bottom slat and in consequence such under face may be unbroken.

- The accompanying drawing illustrates my invention. In such drawing: Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a Venetian blind embodying my invention in place in a window; Fig; 2, is a fragmental view, on a somewhat larger scale, showing one of the tape laddersand its association with the several slats, and particularly the attaching 5 means to the bottom and top slats; Fig. 3 is a vertical section substantially on the line 3'--3 of Fig. 2; Fig. '4 is a fragmental perspective view, on'a still larger scale, showing fragments of the top and bottom slats, the tape-attaching means,

and the cord and the means by which it is attached to the bottom slat; Fig. 5 is a fragmental large-scale elevation of the top slat and one of the tape-fastening devices associated therewith;- and Fig. 6 is a fragmentary cross-section of a modified form of my invention as applied to the bottom slat.

The venetian blind per se may be of any conventional type, having a rockable top slat' Ill,

a bottom slat II, intermediate slats I2, ladder tapes I3, lifting cords (or cables) I4, rocking cords I5 for rocking the top slat Ill andthereby rocking the other slats through the action of the ladder tapes, I3, and suitable mechanism,

usually including a header bar I6, for mounting 56 the blind and its operating devices in a window frame I'I. Each ladder tape, for there are two vertical tapes I8 connected by staggered crosstapes I9 on which the intermediate slats I2 rest and the vertical tapes I8 are each provided at their upper and lower ends with loops 2!) by which they are attached to the upper and lower slats I 0 and II by attaching means which constitute a main feature of my invention.

Each such tape-attaching means consists of a split staple having two parts 25 and 26. Each part is L-shaped, withone arm of the L screwthreaded so that it may be screwed into the associated'top slat I0 or the bottomslat II, as is clear from Fig. 4. The unthreaded arms of the staple portions 25 and 26 normally extend toward each other and meet on a lap joint 21; and this joint is located very close to the screwthreaded arm of the staple-part 25, for which purpose the unthreaded arm of that staple part is very short and the unthreaded portion of the other staple part 26 is long. The length of the unthreaded part of the staple part 25 may be made as small as desired, or even zero. By having the unthreaded arm of the staple-part 25 very short, the tendency for that staple-part to be turned around the axis of its screw-threaded arm by the pull of the tape is made so small that such turning does not occur; and this resistance to turning is desirably still further augmented by so arranging the parts that the pull of the tape on the staple-part 25 tends to screw that staple-part farther into the wood. The other staple-part 26, however, with its long unthreaded arm, may be turned very readily about the axis of its screw-threaded arm, as is clear from Fig.5, to open the staple to allow a loop 20 at an nd of a vertical tape H? of a tape lad-- der to he slipped on it in assembling and off it in disassembling. The lap joints 21 of the several staples 25-46 are so arranged that the pull of the tapes tends to close such joints; so that to open such joints the staple parts 26 of the top slat I0 must be swung upward while those of I the bottom slat I! must be swung downward, as is clear from Figs. 2, 4, and 5.

Each lifting cord I4, for there are at least two, has an end fastened to the bottom slat I I, and ex-- tends upward therefrom through holes in the intermediate slats I2 and in the top slat ID, to suitable mechanism (usually associated with the header bar I6 and shown here as a pulley 30) by which the lifting cords may be pulled upward to lift the bottom slat I I to any desired height, and to carry the necessary intermediate slats upward or more of them, consists of a pair of normally with such bottom slat. The cord-end which is associated with the bottom slat II is attached thereto by mechanism which is another main feature of my invention.

In such attachment, the upper face of the bottom slat I l is provided with a hole 3! which extends downward therein to any suitable depth but desirably does not extend through the lower face thereof. This hole 3| is of suitable size to receive an eye 32, suitably mounted on the end of the lifting cord I4 as by being on a ferrule 33 with which such cord-end is provided. When such eye 32 is in place in the hole 3|, it may receive and be fastened in place by a cross-pin 34 which is slidably mounted in a hole which extends transversely both of the hole 3| and of the bottom slat I l. One end of the hole 35 is open to the surface of the bottom slat l l, at the edge thereof, so that the pin 34 may be freely moved in and out to associate it with and disassociate it from the eye 32. Desirably the pin 34 has a fairly free fit within the hole 35, so that it may freely be moved by the fingers longitudinally of such hole.

To prevent accidental removal of the pin 34, the opening of the hole 35 to the surface of the bottom slat H is desirably at an edge of such slat and substantially under one of the staple-parts 2526. Because of this, when the staple-part 26 is swung to closed position, so that it engages the-staplepart 25, it substantially overlies the open end of the hole 35, and. prevents the pin 34 from being withdrawn from such hole. The hole 35 may be substantially in the same'plane as thetape-attaching staple associated with the bottom slat l I, as shown in Figs. 1 to 5, or offset downward from that plane as shown in Fig. 6. In either case, and especially when a tape is on such staple, it substantially seals such hole and the pin-end. The pin-end may be of any desired character, but is conveniently a mere bent end 36, asis clear from Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 6, which is desirably received in a shallow groove formed in the edge of the bottom slat H by striking the pin-end a light blow with a hammer.

I claim as my invention:-

1. In a Venetian blind, a releasable tape-fastening device which consists of a two-part staple each part of which has a threaded portion which may be screwed into a slat-edge, one of said stapleparts being provided with an arm which extends transversely of its screw-threaded portion to overlap the other staple-part and to provide an arm for receiving a loop of a tape-ladder of said Venetian blind.

2. In a Venetian blind, a releasable tape-fastening device which consists of a two-part staple each part of which has a portion which may be screwed into a slat-edge, one of said staple-parts being provided with an arm which extends transversely of its screw-threaded portion to overlap the other staple-part and to provide an arm for receiving a loop of a tape-ladder of said Venetian blind.

3. In a Venetian blind, a releasable tape-fastening device which consists of a two-part staple each part of which is L-shaped with one arm of the L threaded to screw into a slat-edge and the other arm normally extending toward the other staplepart to overlap the unthreaded arm of the latter part, the unthreaded arm of one staplepart being shorter than the unthreaded arm of the other staple-part so that the lap-joint is close to the axis of the screw-threaded arm of the first staplepart. 1

4. In a Venetian blind, a releasable tape-fastening device which consists of a two-part staple each part of which is L-shaped with one arm of the L threaded to screw into a slat-edge and the other arm normally extending toward the other staple-part to overlap the unthreaded arm of the latter part, the unthreaded arm of one staplepart being shorter than the unthreaded arm of the other staple-part so that the lap joint is close to the axis of the screw-threaded arm of the first staple-part, the staple being arranged so that the pull of the associated tape on the unthreaded arms of the staple-part tends to screw inward the staple-part with the shorter unthreaded arm.

5. In aVenetian blind, a releasable tape-fastening device which consists of a two-part staple each part-of which is L-shaped with one arm of the L mounted in a hole in a slat of the Venetian blind and the other arm normally extending toward the other staple-part to overlap a mating arm'of the other staple-part, the overlapping arm of one of said staple-parts being very short and ingly long.

6. In a Venetian blind, the combination of a lifting cord provided at its end with an eye, a

bottom slat having a hole adapted to receive said eye and with a transverse hole communicating with the first hole; and a fastening pin adapted to be inserted in the second hole to enter the first hole andengage said eye, and an openable tapeattaching staple which in closed position covers the end of said fastening pin.

7. In a Venetian blind, a releasable tape-fastening device which consists of a two-part staple each part of which has a threaded portion which may be screwed into a slat-edge, one of said staple-parts being provided with an arm which extends transversely of its screw-threaded portion into releasable attachment with the other staplepart and to provide an arm for receiving a loop of a tape-ladder of said Venetian blind.

8. In a Venetian blind, a releasable tape-fastening device which consists of a two-part staple each part of which is L-shaped with one arm of RALPH T. I-HENDRICKS. 

